Well geekboy - W.M's first two sentences were just stating facts and the last was a question. I thought he was after a food handout :-)
Just joking W.M - I'm sure the Marantz will be fine to do what its designers intended, but of course it really depends on your intentions. On others words, you have told us nothing about what speakers and sources etc you will be using. Whether something will be "hot" or sound good depends on many variables.
marantz is back on the scene. It kind have faded in the 90's but i'm glad it's back in town. I remember growing up with marantz or kenwood receivers when those used to battle it out against pioneer. It's no wonder why some peole like to cherish vintage systems.
How does the new marantz compare to their vintage designs. I haven't marantz in years.
Marantz makes decent budget gear nowadays but it doesn't compare to the day when they were a leader in the audio industry. ERC, a good site for vintage gear is audiokarma. I am a member and occasional contributor over there.
I think i've heard of the audio karma..going to have to check that out. i sometimes go to oaktree which sells a lot of vintage. I love vintage gear. I missed a lot of the old designs. marantz had awesome receivers and cassette decks. i also missed those soundcraftsmen, nikko audio, and sae including luxman. Heathkits used to be great to in do it yourself and also speakerlab. The old days when infinity and polk was making tons of real high end gear. they kind of ended in the early 90's like acoustat. marantz, kenwood, pioneer was my receiver heaven. it was hard to choose between marantz and kenwood for me because of the quad amps and various processors their receivers would have like time delay, equalizers etc...HT receivers are just improved technical advancement these days, but thoes are the pioneers of audio. I still have vintage denon turntables DP-57L AND 62Ls from the 80's! their in storage somewhere.
what does your friend think of acoustat and apogees..? those manufacturers in my opinion are awesome. i heard from many acoustat and apogee owners that both are engineering marvels. I forgot who bought off apogees and i do know the chinese bought the acoustat from the italians. i heard of rumors that they might end up being american based again.
my spectra 33 with the spl-1 passive sub is my best speaker system, in my sister's garage while the rest of my gear is in storage. I have eminent technology lft-8a with the pushpull magneplanars and magnepans .05 and mlrs-1's with OHM walsh 2 and 2xo's....I plan on using the walsh 2's along with my klipsch ss-5's and wharfedale bipolar and optimus lx-5, lx 77's for surrounds. I'm going to experiment again. Most of my gear are 80's and 90's, only my HT receivers and decks are new! I'm a audiogon and ebay and all the dj stores like dakmart, 123 dj junkie! you guys wouldn't believe the sound i'm able to produce with the many sound processors, amps and loudspeakers i have? I was able to play casiono lights in montreal dvd video and over 1 1/2 yrs ago and you'd think the jazz ensemble was there playing in front of you. drums, guitars, saxophones and pianos sounded like what they should sound. this is without spending 100k for just an amp and a speaker combo. I have the poor man's high end audio. a collection of high end vintage, my audio nirvana. no longer have bose 901, it's in storage with completely damaged drivers, diaphram and all. my other pair was stolen....who cares! I loved the 901's stacked when i had them in the 80's and 90's, but i outgrew them and fell in love with planars, electrostats and walsh coherent line source designs and don't forget about them linaeums either. For everyone's info, i have peavey kosmos, bbe sonic maximizers, sonic holography and acoustic research tds enhancers to name a few to add spice to each of my amps, speakers and receivers along with dakiom feedback stabilizers with plenty of monster cables. could never afford cardass wires and others. if i had a woodshop, i would build my own loudspeakers like i have in high school when speakerlab and heathkits were the thing to do.
I would use ribbons, ess heil, linaeum, emit/emim, horns and various other tweeter/mid drivers. aluminum and kevlar type woofer drivers i would experiment on. I wouldn't build an electrostat...too complex for my lack of knowledge. that's for engineers. I have lots of woodshop training and professional experience with cabinets. the smell of fresh wood, stains and paint...
